January 12 vs. UMBC (5:30 p.m.)
Live Stats | Watch Live | Game Notes (PDF)
LOWELL, Mass. - The UMass Lowell men's basketball team, who is 8-9 overall and 0-2 in America East play so far this year, will welcome UMBC to Tsongas on Saturday, January 12 for the team's first of two straight home games. Â
A WIN WOULD
A win would snap a five game skid in the all-time series with the Retrievers. It would also give the team its first America East win this year. With a victory, the River Hawks would improve to 6-1 at home this year, in addition to setting a new record for the program's most wins in a single season at the Tsongas Center (3). Â
LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore
Obadiah Noel recorded a game-high 20 points with a team-best eight rebounds, as UMass Lowell came up just short in a 68-64 loss at America East foe New Hampshire on Jan. 9. Noel was joined in double figures by redshirt-junior
Christian Lutete, who totaled 13 points, as well as freshman
Alex Rivera and redshirt-senior
Josh Gantz with 11 and 10 points, respectively. The River Hawks took a slight, 31-30 edge into halftime and led by four with less than two minutes remaining, but UNH knocked down consecutive threes to pull ahead in the final seconds.
LEADING THE FLOCK
Through 17 games in 2018-19,
Christian Lutete is leading the team with 16.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.
Obadiah Noel, who follows closely with 16.1 points per game, leads the team with a 73.0 clip from the line and 25 steals. Freshman
Alex Rivera is first with 34 three-pointers.
Josh Gantz boasts a team-best 14 blocks, while
Ryan Jones has dished out a team-high 66 assists.
SCOUTING UMBC
The Retrievers enter Saturday's matchup with an 8-9 overall record and a 1-1 mark in conference action. The team opened its America East schedule with a 61-52 win against Maine on Jan. 5 before dropping a 66-64 overtime decision at Hartford earlier this week on Jan. 9. Joe Sherburne is currently first on the team with 14.3 points per game. Daniel Akin leads the squad with 6.8 rebounds per game, while K.J. Jackson totals a team-best 69 assists and 37 steals. Max Curran boasts six blocks on the season. As a team, UNH is shooting 43.0 percent from the field, including 33.0 percent on threes, and 65.8 percent from the line.
MOMENT OF REFLECTION
The River Hawks are averaging 81.6 points per game, good for 37th in the nation through 17 games this season. In comparison, at the time last year, the team was averaging 75.4 points per game.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
With a 5-0 start at home this year, the River Hawks extended their unbeaten streak in friendly territory to eight games dating back to Feb. 15, 2018. At 5-1 so far this season, the River Hawks have accumulated a 127-72 mark in front of River Hawk Nation since 2003-04.
PLAYING AT TSONGAS
The UMFK victory marked the River Hawks' largest margin of victory in the arena, in addition to tying their most wins in a single season in the building. With a 2-0 record so far, the team is now 7-16 all time at the Tsongas Center.
SECOND HALF IS WHERE IT'S AT
The River Hawks have found strength in the second, as evidenced by
Christian Lutete's DI program-best, 25-point second half on Dec. 1. So far, the team is outscoring their opponents, 726-682, in the second. Additionally, the River Hawks are shooting 49 percent in the second, compared to their opponents, who are shooting just 44 percent.
HELPING HANDS
The River Hawks set a new Division I program record with 29 assists against Maine Fort Kent on Dec. 7. The squad is currently 13th in the nation with 282 total assists and is first in the America East with 16.6 assists per game.
Ryan Jones became just second player in the program's Division I history to register 10 assists in a game in the NJIT contest on Dec. 1. He is ranked second in the league for assists per game (4.3), as well.
STREAKING SOPHOMORE
Obadiah Noel is in the midst of a 14-game, double-digit scoring streak, which is the second longest in the program's DI era behind an 20-game streak from
Jahad Thomas. After an impressive 2017-18 season that landed him on the America East All-Rookie Team, he has improved from 6.5 points per game last season to 16.1 points per game in 2018-19.
FREE FOR OBE
Obadiah Noel is also making his free throws count this year, with a season-high 10 made at UNH on Jan. 9. This was the second time in his career he has logged double-digits from the line and a first for the team this season.
SHARP SHOOTERS
In the win against Army on Nov. 17, the River Hawks shot over 60 percent (61.2%) from the floor for the first time since Jan. 5, 2017. The accuracy continued, as the the team then shot 60.3 percent against Loyola on Dec. 21. As a team, UMass Lowell has shot better than 50 percent on field goals six times this season and is first in the league with a 47.8 overall field goal percentage. The squad is led by
Obadiah Noel, who is ranked first in the America East with a 55.2 percent clip so far this year.
SPREADING THE LOVE
Despite heading into 2018-19 having lost 60.6% of their scoring from a season ago, the River Hawks have boasted at least four different double-digit scorers in 14 of their 17 games this season, including a season-high five, 10+ point scorers in four of those games, most recently against Loyola. The team boasts five different players averaging double-digit points, good for first in the league in that category, as well. Additionally, against UMFK, 10 different River Hawks scored at least a point for the first time in a year.
Â
